Vulcro raised his hands with serenity, his posture so calm it seemed he'd been fed by divine energy.

His Yaol glowed amber, his energy emanating from his body once the Haikis entered him. His bare feet touched the ground lightly as he approached the stone, and when his hand met it, the touch made it glow, reflecting the amber light in every direction.

— Finally... The last requirement. Come, Lya

The gem glowed once more, beams of light being released and reflected by the water on the walls that lit the interior of the distortion like a globe of light. The blinding glow faded little by little, revealing a woman in front of the stone.

Her red hair waved and was short, ending at her neck. She wore an overcoat just like the other cult members, midnight blue, her eyes were emerald green and they met Vulcro's, her expression was solemn, and as soon as she noticed Vulcro's presence, she knelt as a sign of respect.

— Lord, it is an honor to be in your presence again. — Her voice carried a passive depth, conveying respect and authority. She rose from her position, looking coldly at Michael — As a form of gratitude, I will deal with this infidel.

Her amber energy enveloped her body, transforming into a neon leopard of yellow colors, her body entirely electrified. She ran, leaping at Michael, and as soon as her paws touched him, Michael took a shock and was pushed back as sparks flew.

Michael tried to move, but his body wouldn't obey. He just froze in place as he took the electrocuting impacts, the Haikis had abandoned him, leaving only the raven and the lion — it was just him against two Gods. Michael's glasses cracked and fell apart, shards falling to the ground, his body not obeying him regardless of the desperation, regardless of the pain.

At that moment the only thought running through his head was regret.

"Why? I trusted them the whole time, but the truth is they just used me." Michael thought, his grandfather appeared in his mind telling him he was weak, weak for blindly trusting those who had simply appeared in front of him one day. "I failed. This is what I deserve."

The tiger fired a beam of light at Lya, knocking her back for just a moment. The raven began restoring its body using its own energy.

"Michael, get up, prodigy boy! You need to get out of there!" said the raven to him, the lion having taken control of the body temporarily.

"Was that your plan all along? To use my body as a weapon, to use me as a weapon."

"Michael... We Haikis were made for this. Not that I want to offend you! But ever since Kieria sealed us, everything changed for us..."

The human sat up, annoyed, only to sit back down.

"If I'm just a tool, why don't you join the others?"

"Because... Because..."

The raven flew hovering a few centimeters from the human's face and then hugged him, not even knowing if he would react to the affectionate act, Michael hugged him back.

"Because you're special, Michael, a person pure of heart who truly deserves the best the world can offer"

And then when they pulled apart, the raven wiped away a tear from his own face.

"And I think you'd better get out of there before that leopard turns you into a fritter"

Before he woke up he widened his eyes beneath the glowing glasses, he wasn't expecting it, but he was waiting for it.

His mind returned like a flash in his vision, now that the armor was gone there was nothing left to protect him, the leopard advanced electrified, preparing another strike, dodging every obstacle and crossing the entire arena in seconds. A few centimeters from Michael, she leapt into the air seeking to hit him head-on, the only move he made was to pull off his steel gauntlets that glowed blue in a striking intensity.

The gauntlets opened in midair, revealing an inner layer of aluminum foil that unfolded into several other layers, paper flying everywhere. At the exact moment the beast was between Michael and the papers, he fired beams of light from both hands at the aluminum foils, making the light reflect even stronger, reflecting off each other, the papers surrounded the beast and struck it with an immense ray of light from all sides.

The light pushed her back for some time, making her unable to see beyond the gray smoke that smelled of electrical fire, Michael took the opportunity to flee the field, diverting his attention from the constant chaos to just his own mind, allowing himself to rest behind the remains of a ship's hull.

Meanwhile, Yua had recovered from her wounds, still having some bloodstains on her face, she buried her weapon in the mud before speaking with Lilith.

— Well, in the center Isram and Jyn are battling against Miguel, Himari and the others, so far the fight has been very even, almost ending in a draw. To the left, a bit ahead of the ritual, there's Hax and the skeleton, fighting against the anomaly Hamura, looks like they've already won. On the north wall there's Vulcro, who seems to have finished his ritual and summoned some kind of feline, Michael retreats after being stunned... — Yua summarized, using her cleaver to draw in the mud

— And what can we do to help? Miguel... He could get hurt, what if he doesn't win?

— Look, if Hax and the wolf have already finished off Hamura, they can advance to Isram and Jyn, but since Vulcro's ritual was completed, we have one more problem to solve.

Hilhelm, who was kneeling beside the two of them, covered in many bandages with an empty medical kit at his side, raised one of his eyebrows.

— Do something, Yua! Don't expect the kid to do it for you. Or would you rather I destroy the barrier right now?

Yua just continued making plans with Lilith without even acknowledging him.

— Going to ignore me!? — he said in a distressed voice — Okay, maybe I'll have to ask nicely — Hilhelm imitated a kitten's puppy-dog eyes — Please!

— Ignore him. If something goes wrong, Hilhelm will have to destroy the barrier to protect us, that's the only way he'll be able to remake it around us.

Lilith looked back without paying attention, her hands trembling, her mind screaming at not seeing Miguel beyond the smoke. From there only Isram emerged, advancing to attack them, Yua quickly positioned herself in front of Lilith with the cleaver in hand.

When the two collided, Lilith screamed with all the air in her lungs, she began to float and felt her body grow hotter as if it were emanating smoke, she looked at her arms and they were emanating blue Yaol, a gasp escaped her in surprise, and as she raised her hands the entire field seemed to freeze for an instant before quickly returning to normal.

She felt all the energy in each of their bodies as if they were connected, she felt Vulcro, Michael, and Yua. She hissed unconsciously:

— Kyra, advance.

Yua's body began releasing a lot of smoke, smoke so thick it was impossible to see her. For a moment Lilith thought something had happened to her, but from the smoke emerged a colossal being. It was entirely green with black stripes, its size nearly touching the ceiling and its length crossing the entire barrier, even though it was still growing out of the smoke.

The serpent advanced, destroying everything in front of it, Himari had to throw herself against Miguel to pull him out of the way, Vierius opened a portal for himself and Galactor to escape by a hair, closing it right after.

The animal was too fast for its size, crushing everything in its path, leaving a trail of destruction. It struck against the walls turning around as soon as it sensed them, it was blind. It slammed against the cultist Isram, carrying him far away, and when it reached the north wall, it swallowed Vulcro before he could react.

— It can't be... A size like that can only be a Haiki! — said Michael

"Kyra, you're back!" said the lion in Michael's mind

— L-Lord! You won't take him! — shouted Lya, emerging from her leopard form only to transform into a blue-eyed bird, flying above the snake she landed firmly on the Haikis, then concentrating her Yaol into her beak and pecking it.

The Haikis was struck in a vital point, forcing the transformation to be canceled, the animal vanished again in a dense cloud of smoke that dissipated some minutes later, from which Yua emerged intact and unconscious, in the place where Vulcro should have been there was only a beautiful green seed, Jyn picked it up off the ground and handed it to Lya.

— Welcome back, Lya! — Jyn whispered to her cheerfully

— Forget about it, the ritual is already complete, let's leave them here to rot. — Isram laughed cruelly in his words.

A massive crack echoed throughout the distortion, everyone looked toward the source of the sound, the wall had cracked and the cracks were spreading everywhere.

— That damn Haiki broke the barrier!?

Soon Isram made a gesture, materializing a bird from his green energy with his hands and making it appear in the air.

— Climb on. Let's leave this place — said Isram

One by one they climbed onto the bird, which took off in flight as soon as everyone was aboard, in the air Jyn created a cage of vines that extended and trapped Hamura, taking her away with them, the strength of that bird was incomprehensible.

— Yua! Yua! — shouted Himari, running everywhere trying to find her partner

— Yua! Are you okay? — asked Miguel when he found her

— She's unconscious, she always is after transforming.

Everyone looked at the cracks spreading across the walls, and then, the barrier broke into pieces that disappeared along with the water returning to its original territory. The barrier was so large that it left the allies a few seconds to talk before it reached them.

— Damn it! What are we going to do? If the water reaches us here, we'll all be crushed by the pressure! — shouted Himari.

Hilhelm was at a loss for words, his usually sarcastic face had vanished, now he was serious and monotone.

— Everyone, don't worry, as soon as the water touches you, you'll all be teleported to a different place. — he said seriously — I can't make myself leave here, but it's fine, I'll stay here.

— What?

— How?!

Everyone shouted in unison, not believing it, Hilhelm hugged Yua and Himari, Yua had tears in her eyes and Himari seemed very quiet. Then, before the water reached them, Hilhelm said

— Don't worry about me, I'll figure something out... — and then before everyone departed he gave one final smile and waved "bye" with one hand.

The flash of light came to Kutro's mind, he felt the difference in temperature and environment as soon as he was teleported. Upon opening his eyes he was in a hay field, still bathed in the orange light of the afternoon sun, there were enormous blocks of hay scattered across the area, he thought he was miles away from the distortion.

The skeleton got up from the soft hay, looking around cautiously, he hid behind a block of hay as soon as he heard a sound of wind, as if something very fast had broken the sound barrier and arrived there, looking from behind the block, not far away Isram, Lya and Jyn disembarked from the bird, they seemed to be talking.

— After so long, it felt like ages had passed... But finally you're back, Lya. — said Jyn — And so we'll return to the hunt for relics soon! — he suggested

— After so many years, I finally see my brothers. It's an honor to be with you, but... How much time has passed exactly?

— It's been about four hundred years. — Isram stated, looking down

Lya held her breath in surprise, covering her mouth with both hands. The moment that happened, Hax appeared next to Kutro shouting about hating human politics, Kutro grabbed his mouth, having drawn a lot of attention, Lya was looking straight at the block in front of them.

— Lya — Jyn interrupted — I'm sorry but I have the duty to inform you, Oswin betrayed us. He abandoned the brotherhood, leaving behind everything and everyone, since then we've had no information about him.

Kutro started gasping and this time Hax covered his mouth, smiling to try to calm him down.

— Oswin... There's nothing in the world that would make him do that. He must have some reason, he'll come back.

— Lya, he betrayed us. If there's any sin without redemption, it's betrayal of loyalty. — Jyn hissed, emotional at the memory of it.

— But he's my best friend! My partner, my companion, my...

— LYA! — Isram shouted — Oswin betrayed me, betrayed Vulcro, betrayed all of us! Oswin isn't coming back, he's dead to me!

Isram left the area, kicking hay in fury, also leaving Lya collapsed in tears, she had knelt on the ground. The cultist nonetheless huffed with a lowered gaze, angry, not caring at all. He had clenched his hands into fists. Jyn placed a hand on Lya's shoulder and then looked at Isram, turning his back to them.

— At least Oswin was always more trustworthy than you.

Isram turned to confront Jyn, who had his red aura emanating from his body, but he took a deep breath and turned back around with his gaze lowered.

— Let's just go home.